THE KADOORIES

· INDIA
 CONTENTS

P.04 Journey to the East

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
P.06 A Poetic Connection

Dr. Shalva Weil P.08 Laying the Foundations

Dr. Sarah Israel
P.11 Good Karma
Sir Elly Kadoorie School, Mumbai
Sir Ellis Kadoorie School, Hong Kong P.12 Powering and Empowering

Mr. Sharma Ved Prakash P.14 Above and Beyond

for providing some of the photos and texts

04
Journey to the East
Some 2,000 years ago when the
Romans destroyed the Second
Temple in Jerusalem and the Jews
were dispersed, some proceeded
northwards, others turned west to
Salonika, Morocco and Spain, whilst
still others moved eastwards to form a
large community with its headquarters
in Baghdad, Mesopotamia.
Amongst the leading families of the
Baghdadi Jews were the Sassoons,
Kadoories, Somechs, Sophers and
David Sassoon Gubbays. The Kadoorie and Sassoon
Elly Kadoorie Ellis Kadoorie
families, who were related by
marriage, were merchant farmers,
currency for trade in those days being
flocks of sheep.
This ancient community prospered and
sent its sons overseas to India, China,
Europe and America. David Sassoon
arrived in Bombay in 1832. Following
in the footsteps of his cousin, Elly
Kadoorie (later Sir Elly) left for
Bombay in the late 1870s to work for
E.D. Sassoon and Co. as a clerk for the
princely salary of 37 rupees per month.
Lawrence Kadoorie Horace Kadoorie
He arrived in Hong Kong in May 1880
and was joined by his brother Ellis
(later Sir Ellis) in 1883.
In around 1911, Elly left for Shanghai
to trade in rubber, and later also
became involved in utilities, hotels,
property, and wharves and docks in
Shanghai as well as in Hong Kong.
06
A Poetic Connection
The Kadoories’ Shanghai home,
Marble Hall, was a hub of social
and charitable activities in the 1920s
and 1930s. In 1924, Elly Kadoorie
organised a reception at Marble Hall
in honour of Sir Rabindranath Tagore,
Bengali novelist, educator, poet and
the first non-European Nobel Prize
winner.
This meeting came about after Elly
instructed his young son Lawrence
(later Lord Kadoorie) to meet Sir
Rabindranath’s ship which was
anchored at Woo Sung port near
Shanghai. When Lawrence arrived
at the ship, he was taken to Sir
Rabindranath’s cabin where he
conveyed Elly’s invitation. The great
poet nodded, saying not a word, but to
Lawrence’s surprise took the invitation
to include his twelve disciples, all
of whom accompanied him back to
Marble Hall in complete silence.
Suddenly Sir Rabindranath exclaimed
“pens, ink, paper!” which were duly
produced. Sir Rabindranath later wrote
a poem in the Marble Hall guestbook
to commemorate his stay.
Before Sir Rabindranath’s departure,
Elly promised to donate an artesian
well to Santineckitan, India, the
city of Sir Rabindranath’s birth.
In due course this promise was
fulfilled and Santineckitan depended
on this artesian well for its main
water supply for many years. Elly
also gave considerable sums to the
famous Tagore school in support
of Sir Rabindranath’s work for the
rejuvenation of Indian culture, which
was closely linked with the Jewish Sir Rabindranath Tagore
national movement.
08

Laying the Foundations Elly Kadoorie’s involvement in the

Israelite school came about thanks
to his links with the Anglo-Jewish
Elly Kadoorie’s charitable philosophy Association and through a chance
was that “wealth is a sacred trust meeting with the school headmistress,
to be administered for the good of Rebecca Reuben. A well-known
society”. He and his brother Ellis were Bene Israel educator, in 1905 Ms
benefactors of schools, hospitals and Reuben became the first woman to
other charitable institutions in the rank number one in the matriculation
Middle East and Far East, including examination for Bombay University,
India and Hong Kong. where she specialised in history
its students for the matriculation
and Hebrew. She went on to earn
examination of the University of
In 1875, Haeem Samuel Kehimkar a Teaching Diploma from London
Bombay.
founded the first Israelite primary University, and gave up a promising
school in Mazagaon in Bombay, under career at Baroda University to become
In 1932, Elly donated 150,000 rupees
the auspices of the Bene Israelite Ms Rebecca Reuben (middle) and the headmistress of the Sir Elly
towards the renovation of the school her students.
Benevolent Society for Promoting Kadoorie High School between 1922
building. The school was renamed
Education. The school was expanded and 1950.
Sir Elly Kadoorie High School in Sir
into an Anglo-vernacular secondary
Elly’s honour and reopened in 1934.
school in 1881, and further developed
Today, the school continues to run as
into a high school in 1892, training
Sir Elly Kadoorie School, providing
pre-primary, primary, secondary and
junior college education for pupils
from the many communities of
Byculla-Mazagaon in Mumbai.

Sir Elly Kadoorie (left) and Sir Vithal

Chandvarkar, then Vice Chancellor of Bombay
University.
10
The Indian community is an integral
part of Hong Kong, with settlement
dating back to the nineteenth century.
In Hong Kong’s early days, school
facilities for Indian children were
inadequate. In response to the Indian
community’s petition to the authorities
for improvements in 1912, Ellis
Kadoorie, brother of Elly, financed
the construction of a new government
school – the Ellis Kadoorie School
for Indians which was opened in
1916. The school was also the first
to introduce the Hindi and Urdu
languages to the curriculum.
Today, the school operates as Sir
Ellis Kadoorie School and continues
to serve the Indian community, but
also teaches Chinese, Pakistani and
Nepalese children as well as students
of other ethnicities.
Good Karma
Horace Kadoorie (1st on left) and Lawrence Kadoorie (1st on right), pictured with Mother Teresa
(2nd on right) and other awardees.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award was
introduced in 1957 and pursues the
mission of "honouring greatness of
spirit in selfless service to the people of
Asia". Lawrence and Horace Kadoorie
(later Sir Horace) were conferred the
1962 Ramon Magsaysay Award for
Public Service in recognition of their
practical philanthropy in partnership
with government and farmers to
promote rural welfare in Hong Kong.
In the same year, Mother Teresa
received the Ramon Magsaysay Award
for International Understanding for her
work in founding hospitals, clinics and
educational facilities for the needy in
Calcutta, Delhi and other Indian cities.
12
Powering and Empowering
The Kadoorie Family is the largest
shareholder of CLP, a leading
electricity supplier in Asia Pacific.
Founded in Hong Kong, CLP has
helped fuel the city’s development for
more than a century.
In the 1980s, CLP ventured into the
Asia-Pacific region. India, being one
of the largest markets with welcoming
policies for foreign investment, came
as the company’s natural choice for
expansion. CLP acquired a stake in the
gas-fired Paguthan project in Gujarat
in 2002, with full ownership a year
later. Since that time, the company
has developed a diversified generation
portfolio, amounting to approximately
3,000MW in renewable energy,
efficient coal and gas.
Today, CLP is one of the largest
foreign players in India’s electricity
industry and the biggest wind project
developer. CLP is committed to
increasing its renewable energy
portfolio and operational efficiency,
with a view to bring light to millions
in the country in an affordable and
sustainable manner.
CLP has implemented a wide range of
community initiatives, particularly in
the areas of health and education, to
help contribute to the well-being of the
Indian people as the country continues
to prosper.
14
Above and Beyond
In 2012, the Kadoorie-owned
company, Metrojet, signed a joint
venture agreement with Taj Air, part
of the Tata Group, to establish Taj
Air Metrojet Aviation. The company
offers a range of maintenance and
aviation management services to the
India market.
India, together with China, ranks
amongst the world’s fastest growing
markets in business aviation. The
partnership will see operations
commence in Mumbai, with the
current Taj Air facility undergoing a
substantial upgrade, whilst a larger,
more comprehensive, facility is
planned to be built at a later date.
Taj Air Metrojet Aviation upholds the
highest level of service and operational
excellence, and serves to further
cement the strong relationship between
the Kadoorie Family and India.
Contact Us
The Hong Kong Heritage Project (HKHP) is a non-profit organisation
established in 2007 to preserve history and promote heritage awareness
in Hong Kong. It operates a public-access Archive and organises
outreach programmes aimed to engage the public and educate youths.
HKHP is sponsored by the Kadoorie Family, CLP and Hongkong and
Shanghai Hotels.
Address:
8 Laguna Verde Avenue, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
T: (852) 2678 8087 F: (852) 2678 8077
E: enquiry@hongkongheritage.org
www.hongkongheritage.org
www.facebook.com/hongkongheritage
12.2014